How did Sino-Soviet Relations Change during the Cold War?
Sino-Soviet Relations in the Cold War
- Expected that two communist nations, the USSR and PRC, to be allies during the Cold War against American imperialism
- 1950s Both nations formed an alliance, pledged mutual support
- Relationship declined in the 1960s
- 1969 Brief border war
- China sought closer relations with the US
- Late 1980s relationship improved again
Reasons for the Breakdown in Relations
Historical Differences
Historical Differences
- 19th Century Russia has seized Chinese territory
- 1920s Bolsheviks seized Out Mongolia
- Manchuria was stripped of $2 billion worth of equipment after WWII
- 1920s - 1930s USSR had the support of the GMD
Ideological Differences
- Mao and Stalin had different interpretations of a Marxist Revolution
- Stalin opposed Mao's rise in the CCP
Economic Differences
- Argued over how to develop the Chinese economy
- Failure of the Great Leap Forward
Military Differences
- USSR was reluctant to give China military aid and nuclear technology - Made China suspicious
Mao's Foreign Policy Priorities in 1949
Economic Development
Economic Development
- China relied on Soviet aid and advice when it came to re-building
- Internationally isolated by the UN
- November 1949 Western trade was banned
Territorial Integrity
- China needed to secure control of outlying provinces such as, Tibet and Taiwan
- China feared hostile forces on its borders in Vietnam / Korea - Initially needed the Soviets protection
Nationalist Identity
- Maoism wasn't just about world revolution but also restoring the Chinese nation and re-dressing past humiliations (including Soviet domination)
- Mao wanted independent action
International Revolution
- Mao believed that the war with Capitalism was inevitable
- Communist revolutions should be encouraged world-wide
- USSR did't want this after 1956
Ideological and Personal Differences
- Stalin and Mao had a history of disagreement
- Stalin believed that the GMD had a better chance of reunifying China
- Mao thought that Stalin wanted a weak china
- Mao's interpretation of Marxism focused on using the peasants as the revolutionary class
- Stalin thought that a revolution should be based on the urban working class
- Stalin didn't want to spread Soviet commitment to Asia
- Mao was offended by his treatment in Moscow
- Treaty gave China $300 million in loans that were repayable
- Mao had to recognise Soviet control over Outer Mongolia and influence within Manchuria
- Khrushchev called this 'an insult to the Chinese people' - USSR still sent over 20,000 advisors to the PRC and helped to construct over 200 industrial projects
- China had to pay back $1.35 billion in weapons to the USSR
- Suggestion that Stalin even deliberately prevented an early armistice to exhaust the Chinese - Armistice came after Stalin's death
Khrushchev and De-Stalinisation
- 1953 Stalin died, Soviet Union became ruled by Malenkov, Khrushchev and Bulganin
- Tensions eased as the USSR began to supply China with loans and technology
- 1956 Nikita Khrushchev was the leader of the USSR - Gave a speech criticising the personality cult of Stalin and his crimes - Mao interpreted this as an attack on himself as he ruled China in a similar way to Stalin - Increased tensions between the two
Khrushchev and 'Peaceful Co-Existence'
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1957 Moscow Conference
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- Deng Xiaoping also made a series of speeches demolishing the Soviet speaker Mikhail Suslov - Argued that world revolution was only possible through armed struggle
- Angered and humiliated Moscow
- Mao took this as an opportunity to humiliate Khrushchev
- Khrushchev was kept in a hotel with no air-con
- Meetings in Mao's swimming pool were arranged
- The USSR proposed to create a joint fleet of submarines and radio stations on the Chinese coast
- Mao interpreted this as the USSR attempting to 'bring China under Soviet military control'
- Deng attacked the USSR again stating they were arrogant for viewing themselves as the only true Marxist-Leninists
- Accused the Soviet technical advisors of being spies
The Taiwan Crisis 1958
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The Great Leap Forward 1958 - 1961
- Relations grew worse - War of words developed between the two nations
- Failure of the Great Leap Forward (GLF) was commented on by the USSR
- Lead to famine and economic problems within China
- Soviets described the GLF as 'faulty in design and erroneous in practice'
- Mao was outraged by this, anger grew with rumours that stated Marshall Peng Dehuai had passed on details of the famine to the USSR
Soviet-Albanian Split 1961
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The End of Diplomatic Relations 1961
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- War ended in November with China taking disputed areas
- The USSR was 'officially neutral', however had supported India by selling MIG fighter jets
- Mao refused to allow the Soviet negotiator, Kosygin to mediate a ceasefire
The Cuban Missile Crisis, 1962
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- Chinese physicists managed to piece together hundreds of shredded documents on nuclear technology - Knowledge enabled China to develop its own atomic bomb
- 1963 the USSR and the USA signed the Test Ban Treaty, suspended the atmospheric testing of nuclear bombs
- Mao saw this as another betrayal of the USSR - Attempt to ensure that China couldn't develop its own weapons
- 1964 China detonated its first atomic bomb, China was now a superpower
- Bomb codename was '59/6' - After the year and month that the Soviet atomic advisors had been withdrawn
- During the Cultural Revolution the USSR argued that the revolution was another example of China's 'fanaticism' and that it would destroy the world
Sino-soviet Border War 1969
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- Both sides realigned their missiles to face each other
- The USSR secretly asked the US what they would do in the event of a Soviet nuclear attack
- Conflict was the lowest point of the Sino-Soviet relationship - Forced China to consider a better relationship with the US
- The USSR gained the most influence after supplying North Vietnam with military equipment
- 1978 the USSR signed a military alliance with Vietnam
Chinese Support for Cambodia 1975
- China attempted to make up for the USSR's strategic defeat in Vietnam by forming a closer relationship with Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge Party in Cambodia
- Khmer Rouge were a 'Maoist' Party - Supported by the PRC
- 1975 - 1979 the regime murdered 2.5 million people - China didn't seem to mind
- December 1978 the USSR-backed Vietnam, invaded Cambodia - Aim was 'regime change'
- Vietnam expelled all Chinese people - China called this invasion 'Soviet expansionism'
Chinese Invasion of Vietnam 1979
- Response to overthrow the pro-Chinese puppet state in Cambodia
- 17th February 1979 China launched an invasion of Vietnam in order to protect Cambodia
- UN - Both sides declared that the other was the aggressor and the USSR declared their intervention was on 'humanitarian grounds'
- The PLA was forced to withdraw under heavy casualties months after fighting - Major propaganda defeat for China
The Invasion of Afghanistan 1979
- 1979 the USSR invaded Afghanistan
- China responded by sending supplies to Mujahideen fighters who were resisting the Soviet invasion
- 1976 Mao died and was replaced by Deng Xiaoping - Fear of Soviet encirclement of China
- Prevented any moves towards a better relationship
Sino-Soviet Détente, 1985
- 1985 New Soviet leader - Mikhail Gorbachev
- Promised to reform the USSR and end the occupation in Afghanistan
- Policies led to new negotiations with China
- 1986 Trade agreements were signed
- May 1988 Cultural exchange agreement
- 1989 Gorbachev was invited to Beijing after it was announced that Soviet troops would be leaving Afghanistan
Tiananmen Square Massacre, 1989
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- Deng Xiaoping's 'Four modernisations' aimed to introduce state-controlled Capitalism into China
- Tiananmen Square Massacre showed that China was unwilling to allow 'democratic reform'